21 April 2012

Orly Jealous, Much?

Last weekend I couldn't help but wonder if I was being slightly ambitious by wearing the highly coveted, highly bright and highly summery For Audrey by China Glaze. It's not exactly summer, but we haven't regressed back to winter (wouldn't put it past English weather you know!) - and then this arrived:

Orly Jealous, Much?

From the Orly 2012 Spring collection, adorably named Cool Romance, is Jealous, Much? which is this lovely mixture of mint and pale turquoise which I think is a perfect colour for the spring, and even in the summer months to come. It has a soft feminine touch but retaining the uniqueness and warmth of a summery colour like turquoise.

Now I'm not an Orly connoisseur, but their recent offerings through the She Said Beauty box has definitely intrigued me, and with this collection (which I honestly had the hardest time choosing 1 from!) I think they've won me over! The full range consists of other cool, yet pastel colours (which I think is quite rare as a lot of companies opt for bright colours which are toned down with pastel) that you can see here from The PolishAholic's blog.

The formula, in my opinion, is not 100% up to par with the likes of Mavala, who I imagine is their main competitor with a similar price range - Orly at £5 and Mavala at £4.10. I found it slightly harder to apply, because the formula wasn't runny enough that if the product applied streakily, it wouldn't eventually fall into a flat, level, surface. It does to a certain extent but I've definitely seen better behaved polishes! But it wasn't enough to really show or put me off. The brush is also the dreaded confusion of flat or round, in which you have to swivel the handle a few times to figure out which edge is flat and therefore the most conducive to applying an even layer.

But let's put it into perspective here - Orly polishes are £5 for 5.3mL, and boasts a unique take on shades ranging from pastels to brights that should have Mavala running for its money. The polishes also has a nice glossy finish, a relatively quick-dry formula (I'm so impatient with polishes so this could only mean a good thing!) and perfect pigmentation at 3 coats that doesn't feel heavy or chunky on the finger tips.

And the colour - how could you say no? Previously limited to Essie's Nice is Nice, Orly's Jealous, Much? has irrefutably joined the ranks of Yu's Spring Polishes 2012 ;) I urge you to check out the rest of the collection at the link above because by god - that pink, purple and nude shades are sure to catch your eyes too!

Overall, I'm confident I'll be checking back on Orly when I'm looking for colours. I really like the packaging, and I think it's great value for money - I think I can cope with the little negatives for a £5! I currently have Black Out that I got in my arsenal of nail polishes, but I would like a few others like the other Cool Romance shades, and I'm dying to get my hands on Gilded Coral from last year's Spring Collection too!

15 comments:

i have 3 orly polishes from the cool romance collection... i agree w/ you regarding the consistency: little harder to apply 8but then again: i mostly only own OPI's, so...)i think they are quite good and there are some LOVELY shades :)i really enjoyed yours... don't won't that one :)xx raquel

Hmm you're right, it does remind me of Essie Mint Candy Apple or whatever it's called and I think there's one by Rimmel too! I do think it's rare to find a collection of cool-toned pastels though, I always imagine pastel collections to be like purple, pink, blue, orange etc., etc.,. I've never used Priti NYC or Butter London haha! I'm really keen to try Butter London, but can never find a shade I really like - any recs? :)

LOL I literally put this very color on my nails, waited for it to dry, checked my inbox and saw this e-mail update of your blog about the color I'd just painted! I agree about its issues. I had to paint on three coats for opacity, and three coats on me typically wind up a little dented. Overall, though, lovely rendition of the mint-candy color.